Back from Outerspace: God and Time

They say sometimes you don't experience culture shock until you come home. I think they might be on to something...

Another thing that stuck out to me when I got home from South Africa was the totally different view on time. In "Africa time" they schedule by the day and not the hour, and 'now' is not in their vocabulary (at least how we mean it). There's 'just now', which could be between 15 minutes to whenever I feel like it, or 'now now' which means in a little while, but there's no rush...ever. I spent a lot of time waiting in South Africa, taking awhile for my American promptness to wear off.

This opened my eyes to my American time frame in how I view my relationship with God. There were a few times in SA that I was hoping and planning on dramatic light bulb experiences. I was out by myself with high expectations, in breathtaking scenery, listening to powerful music and expecting to hear from God. I wanted to finally have my doubts settled, get direction and know without a doubt who God is and who I am, and what drive was going to be behind my life. Silence. Nothing. Over and over again.

On separate occasions I shared my complicated frustrations with two woman who ironically (?) told me the same thing, "Emily, maybe you just need to chill out." Ha- funny that's what I tell other people all the time when I myself needed to hear it. They told me, if you're pursuing God, He will show You who He is and direct you in His timing, just wait."

Another admirable man with his share of past downfalls told me, "Emily, life is just one huge journey to know God. God might take years just to show you one little lesson."

These instances opened my overplaning/anylising/detail oriented mind to seeing more of the big picture of my life, and to just "sit back and enjoy the ride." It's not always that complicated after all.

And it's not until now that those pieces are finally starting to come together.

Back from Outerspace: Obesity

I've been home now for a month and already in the swing of things, so much so it sometimes feels like it was all a dream.

First thing that stuck out to me when I got back was the outrageous amount of people here that are ridiculously overweight. I know, not nececiarrily a shocker, but it's such a shame. You strained to find a 1st world fat person in South Africa, young or old, it is just not culturally acceptable. This shows that getting old, being too busy ect. are really not excuses, and it can be done reasonably. We have such a spoiled culture where it is extreemly uncomfortable and rare to have to resist ourselves from anything we want. This comes from someone, who at the ripe age of 23, was just told by her doctor that she has high cholesteral and needs to lose 15 pounds. Don't worry, I'm on it.

Reminds me of a talk show on recently where they were discussing how American's were concerned that Barbie would increase rates of anerexia among children, when, ironicaly, we have the highest rate of childhood obesity. Makes me sick.

On the other hand, it's interesting that it's a compliment to 3rd world Africans to call them fat, because it means to them that they are prosperous and they don't have "the disease".

So, it could be worse- we could be in a culture that is just happy if they're able to eat everyday, but I do hope my culture and myself experience how good a little more will power feels.

Extra Curricular Activities

Teachers here at Kingswood have a full plate. The other Grade 5 teacher I work with teaches his regular Grade 5 class, art classes, coaches whatever sport is in season, and you can find him mowing the school's grass in whatever free time he has left. My teacher teaches, coaches, is in charge of a current school play, and his Head Matron over one of the boarding houses. Wow. This Student Teacher has been no exception. Swimming- they have me coaching swimming- (enter laughter here). Not only have I never coached swimming, but they gave me the beginner group. Please try to picture this-- an odd ball mix of extra big to tiny as a stick swimmers, that if by the end of the practice no one has drowned, I consider it a huge success. It's so funny (chaotic, nerve wracking, makes you just have to make a big sigh) when the big swimmers try to stay above water ("swim") and create such a tidal wave that the littles ones are washed away. Arms flaling, zig zag lines and doggy paddling are normal sights to see. I've given it my best shot, taught them some things, and no one's died, so overall I think it was a good experience. One of my favorite memories is as a last resort (and because I really thought it would be a lot of fun) I lead them in some supurb water arobics.

We also just finished up with "Cafe Cabaret" which was a huge production put on by the school staff (everyone from the Stooges to the Headmasters in the Junior & Senior Schools) for them to bond and raise money for charity. We performed to pretty packed audiences for 4 nights- it was such a blast! I performed in a routine with the teachers to "Dancing Queen" as well as with the Stooge Girls in the "Can Can!" We were a hit, it might have helped that we did a lot of ruffling of our skirts and even flashed our undies at the end!

Here's a tour of the school via the back of my friends Motor Bike. You might want to mute the volume-- the wind sounds pretty hectic!

Being the Famous American Student Teacher

I understand why famous people hide behind hoods and big sunglasses- I've experienced the same feeling. Don't get me wrong- it's incredible- but after you've returned a big smile and excited 'hallo' to a never ending supply of kids in the hallway, every passing period, every school day for going on 3 months now- you start looking for alternative routes.

When I look at the kids, the classroom and even the school building I can picture them fitting in the US-I almost forget I'm in another country until they start asking me questions with metric measurements- any questions on in./ft./yrds? No?

Me attempting to grade English assignments is also puzzling due to them spelling so many words differently. Spelling is already not my strong suit- then to see words like realise, mum, colour, and practise on papers- oh my! I always have to have a dictionary in arms reach!

I've had a lot of fun with the units I've gotten to teach. One was a detective mystery over "The Mysterious Case of Specimen-X". They got clues everyday to solve what this strange creature was meanwhile learning all about frogs. We also had a Bird Safari where they were trained all about birds to become well educated safari guides. They then researched their own birds and taught the class about them during our pretend Bird Safari excursion.

Below is a clip of a staged- but close to real- classroom greeting when a teacher walks in the room. The one below that is just a survey of my scene.

Learning the Tricks of the Trade

So I've learned that if you're having trouble getting sleepyhead boys out of bed (age 10-14) all you need to do is mischieviously coordinate them all to go jump on another sleepyhead's bed- I've never seen them move so fast! It goes from being half awake, to, 'OKAY! Let's go!" Another trick is to start singing 'Dancing Queen' while dancing goofily in their room. Trying to hide their smiles, I'll I hear is "Nooooooooo, we'll get up, we'll get up!!" as they jump out of bed.

Over Halloween weekend I was really missing being home because they did nothing fun to celebrate it. So I got them all together in a pitch black room with a 'torch' (flashlight) and we took turns telling ghost stories- creepy voices and sound effects included! Keep in mind they're in 5th-7th grade, so their stories were really random, odd and not really scary at all. They had a good time though, especially laughing at me when I would jump at their loud or surprising parts. (Those that have ever experienced watching a scary movie can relate- I can be rediculously jumpy.) They even had shy little Tino hiding in a suitcase in the middle of the room, ready to jump out at the perfect moment to scare the unexpected newcomer. Half the fun was trying to secretly pulll this off without the Matrons knowing- they can be so strict and mean- I'm sure they wouldn't approve of half the things I allow (and plan!) for the boys to do.

I've realized that even though these boys are some of the luckiest/most priviledged in SA (compared to all those living in 3rd world poverty) they still have such a deficit when it comes to tlc. They say being a border is good because it makes you tough- but I don't know if that's so great. They miss out on a lot of tenderness and special attention. A new goal of mine is to hug and compliment/encourage a border each day. Go hug and encourage someone today that isn't expecting it- it'll be fun for both of you.

Fun Traditions

This is a picture from the Matric's (Seniors) last day of school. Kingswood has this fun tradition where for an hour the Matrics are let loose in the Jr. School- the boys wearing little girl uniforms and the girls wearing the boys. They go crazy running around giving out kisses on the cheaks to all the kids and staff. They (boys and girls alike) have a bright tube of red lipstick that they reapply and reapply. The Jr. Kids just go haywire- screaming in excitment as these big kids dressed funny chase them around to kiss them. Ms. Aspleings daughter is a Matric, and she landed one on me! It's a site to see at the end of the hour- kids and teacher's faces covered in smooches and bragging about who had more. It was funny to see a heard of Matric boys (keep in mind- wearing tiny little skirts that don't cover much of them!) tackling one of their old male teachers. It was also halirious the day before to see the look on one of the new boy's face when he was told about this tradition- he was terrifed, thinking that these senior girls were going to french kiss him!

Cause I'm free, free falling!

When someone says, "So if your friend jumped off a bridge, you would too?" it normally is to convince someone not to do something stupid. Well, consider me stupid.

The entire day before (as I was attempting to relax on an incredible beach in SA mind you) my stomach could do nothing but turn thinking and analysing why I shouldn't or should join my friend in bungee jumping off the highest bungee jump bridge in the world the next day. Everyone here told me I had to do it, being a once in a lifetime opportunity, blah blah blah (come to find out most of them hadn't). I replayed every split second in my mind of what I thought it would be like, and finally decided that, heck no, there was absolutely no way I was going to do it, and peer pressure wouldn't be enough to convince me otherwise. I continued with that same stubbornness all morning. We got to go on the bridge with my friend Sukie to watch her jump, and the workers told us it wasn't too late, that if anyone else was interested they could still harness them up, no problem. I think we know what comes next here, out of pure adrenaline/stupidity, I excitedly yelled, 'strap me up!' It was the most unpredictable experience, because before this point I was terrified just watching people jump, and now I felt completely fearless. I don't know what came over me, whether it was the breathtaking (litterally!) scenery, the loud pump up music, or once again, pure stupidity, I felt so relaxed you would have thought I was about to take a walk on the beach. Sukie and I were standing on the bridge, making jokes, dancing to the music, and I couldn't wait. It was quite a site to see hardcore bikers with tattoos up and down them, smoking cigarettes and sweating of nervousness and Sukie and I 'break dancing'.

It was my turn, and I got strapped up (just this measly thing wrapped around your ankles- okay that's what it felt like anyway), as the workers helped me step to the edge I warned them that they were going to have to push me- there was no way in heck I would be able to jump off a 216 meter bridge completely on my on free will, close, but not completely. Then there was no time to think, "3...2...1 BUNGEE!!" They all said I looked so funny after they pushed me, my arms flailing like I was trying to pull myself back. The first second, all I can remember was complete, all over body shock- as Roy says, "Hard to explain the rush...flying toward Terra ferma at terminal velocity with your life in the hands of a bunch of rubber bands! WOW!" The next few seconds were bliss- I was able to stretch out my arms (they had given up apparently in pulling myself back on the bridge) and thoroughly enjoy while screaming through the free fall. As soon as I felt the cord bounce me back up, I remember just screaming "I'M ALIVE, THANK YOU GOD I'M ALIVE!". It's incredible then to just bounce a few more times and be in the middle of this incredible vast, scenery- even if it was all upside down! After what seemed like an eternity of hanging, I got pulled back up with an unbelievable adrenaline rush. I am so glad I did it, and if given the chance, I would definitely do it again!